Welcome to Sage Audio. Today let’s look at How to Mix Start to Finish. But first,
If you have a mix that you need mastered,
send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it with the link in the description.
Start with Proper Routing
For this video, I’m giving a more generalized overview of mixing,
so if you want to look at specific topics in more detail,
I’d recommend looking into the hundreds of other videos we have on mixing and mastering.
When I start a mix, I set up my routing first so that I can get organized and improve my workflow.
I start by grouping and color-coding similar instruments together, before
changing their outputs to various corresponding busses, which then go to the stereo output.
Now that the session is organized, let’s take a quick listen to the track we’re working on today,
and keep in mind I still need to adjust my levels.
Get Rough Levels with Faders
After I have my session routed the way I want, I like to get a general idea of how the instruments
are going to sit in the mix. To do this, I’ll use my individual instrument channel faders
to change the level and achieve a temporary balance between everything.
Although these levels will need to be readjusted later, this gives me a better understanding of
the desired sound, which will help me next chapter when I start to add processing.
Additionally, I’ll use panning on similar instruments to create
width and provide more room in the center for more driving instruments.
Let’s take a listen to how the mix is sounding now that it’s a little more balanced.
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Utilize Corrective, Mainly Subtractive EQ
Next, I’m going to introduce equalization to various instruments - mainly as a way
to attenuate aspects of each signal I don’t want or don’t like. For example, on my vocal,
I’ll introduce a high-pass up to right before the fundamental, and dip some of its sibilance.
Or maybe on the acoustic, I’ll cut to right above it’s fundamental to clear out some space in the
lows. Next chapter, we’ll take a closer look at our kick and bass and how to equalize those,
but for now, let’s take a listen to how some corrective EQ improves the mix.
Separate Kick and Bass Instruments
Low-frequency instruments are difficult to mix, but one thing that really helps is finding the
fundamental of the kick drum, and attenuating that frequency on synths, basses, and 808s. In
this session, the kick’s fundamental is roughly 45Hz, so I’ll dip that on my other low Hz. tracks.
Additionally, you may want to dip the second-order harmonic
on an instrument - for example, if my 808 and synth are overlapping,
I’ll choose which one to prioritize and dip the second-order harmonic on one.
Let’s take a listen and notice that the kick has more room,
and the lows sound subtly more balanced.
Use Compression and/or Saturation
Compression and saturation control the dynamics of a signal but in slightly differing ways. For
example, I might add compression to my kick and utilize a super quick attack
and release to distort the transient of the kick and make it stick out - or
I could saturate the bass to change its timbre.
Furthermore, I could compress the bass synth and side-chain my 808
to duck the bass when the 808 is present.
How you compress or saturate is an incredibly complex topic so I can’t delve to deep into it
here, but let’s take a listen to the differences that these processors made to the mix.
Expedite Processing with Channel Strip
If we have an instrument we know will need a fair amount of processing,
we can use a channel strip plugin to combine multiple forms. For example, I’ll use the PSP
Infini-strip and try out the rock vocal preset on the lead, then adjust the settings as needed.
Even if this isn’t exactly what I want, I can make small tweaks to find what works best,
and ideally, speed up the time it takes to mix.
Let’s take a listen to this strip on the vocals.
Start Processing Busses
So far I haven’t performed any processing on the busses, so let’s start making similar instruments
feel cohesive. For example, I’ve mainly left my BGVs alone, since I didn’t want to spend a
lot of processing power on them - so let's collective EQ and saturate them on a bus.
Similarly, I can use collective compression or saturation on my drums to get an aggressive sound,
and then use additive EQ to shape the overall spectrum of each bus.
Let’s take a listen.
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Introduce Temporal Processing
We can start adding reverb and delay, either as sends or as inserts - I’ll send
my lead vocal to a delay and utilize 1/8th note delay on the left channel and dotted
1/8th note on the right. On another send, I could add both short and long vocal reverb.
Like compression and saturation, this is a very complex topic,
so I can’t cover everything here. But know that once your dynamics are controlled, and you’ve
begun to process your busses, you’re at a good point to start adding in time-based effects.
Additionally, if you use auxiliary channels for your temporal processing,
be sure to change their output to the corresponding bus. For example,
if it's a snare reverb track, route it to the drum bus.
Let’s take a listen.
Optional Resonance Reduction on Vocal
If your vocal just isn’t sitting right, it may have some unpleasant resonances - when
that’s the case I like to use soothe 2 to attenuate any unwanted resonances
and help the vocal sit back in the mix a little. I usually only want to attenuate by a few dB.
Also, I usually process almost the full spectrum.
Let’s take a listen to the difference this processor makes.
Re-adjust
Faders, Optional Gullfoss Bus EQ
Now that all of our processing is complete let’s adjust the channel faders to get a good
final level. If we want to adjust the level of an entire instrument group, we just need to adjust
the corresponding bus fader - additionally, these bus faders can be easily automated.
Lastly, I like to add Gullfoss EQ to my busses and use very subtle settings - sometimes I put them at
the end of the bus’s chain, and sometimes at the beginning. It all depends on what sounds best.
Let’s take one more listen to the mix with all of the steps that we’ve discussed included.
If you have a mix that you need mastered, send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it
with the link in the description. Thank you so much for watching.